The city of Moscow, the capital of the Russian Federation, receives over sixteen million people daily. Residents of suburban neighborhoods and regional satellite towns, the so-called commuters, people who work in the capital but are not among those living in Moscow, visitors from other cities and countries for permanent or temporary work, expats, as well as tourists, make up this mass About one third of the total number of people living in one place.
Moscow Air Hub
Serving millionaire cities by air has always been a headache for local authorities. In the capital, the role of a multi-thousand-dollar air hub is played by a bunch of three major airports in the Moscow region: Domodedovo DME, Vnukovo VKO and Sheremetyevo SVO. It is difficult to say which airport is the main or main in this triad. It is complicated by the fact that they all fly international flights from their terminals every day and work simultaneously in one of the busiest aviation corridors in Europe.
History of development
According to international classification, the airport is called Sheremetyevo Moscow SVO. Which airport is hidden under this designation? It begins its history on September 1, 1953, when a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was issued on the organization of the construction of a central aviation site for the air forces of the Soviet Union. Four years later, the first runway and taxiways were put into operation, and two years later, in 1959, the first aircraft arrived with passengers from Leningrad landed here. Coordination and management of commercial and technical services was carried out from a special Central Control Point, organized by order of Secretary General Nikita Khrushchev. He was struck by the grandeur and scale of Heathrow London Aviation Center, and, returning from an official visit to the United Kingdom, allegedly accidentally dropped the phrase, saying that it would be time for the country of advice to have a similar complex. In those days, such remarks by the political leadership were considered a call for action, and within three months the status of a passenger flight center for the Sheremetyevo Moscow SVO aerodrome was obtained. Which airport in the world can boast of such a quick reorganization?
Further development
Since 1961, with the recently commissioned runway, charter flights to Cuba, to the United States and Canada, as well as to Mexico, Argentina and Australia, have been launched. On November 20, 1967, the first Aeroflot airliner took off from the runway of the airfield to New York City. In the late sixties and early seventies, the airport, which was famous for Moscow - SVO, acquired the championship of the largest airborne complex in the USSR. Which airport is large in terms of occupied area could be seen by visiting it in person.
Sheremetyevo-2, aka Terminal F
The current Terminal F, and before the renaming is the Sheremetyevo-2 airport terminal, was inaugurated on May 6, 1980, a few days before the official opening of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. During the international sports tournament, the airport served about half a million foreign passengers. Designed to serve more than six million passengers a year, it was thoroughly renovated in 2009. The sterile area of passenger traffic was made as voluminous as possible, without unnecessary fences and partitions. The location of Duty Free duty-free shops has been carefully thought out and optimized for the convenience of passengers departing from Sheremetyevo SVO. Which airport of our vast Motherland shows so much care for its customers?
Charter popularity
Since March 2007, part of international flights arriving at the northern airport of the capital have been issued to a new terminal. In the itinerary receipts of arriving passengers, the place of arrival was indicated as Sheremetyevo SVO C Moscow. Which airport would be their final destination, did not raise questions among tourists. But what is Terminal C?
The increased demand for charter flights at the beginning of the 2000s made the airport management look directly into the eyes of the growing problem of the lack of actual space of two passenger terminals. Passenger traffic is growing steadily every year. More and more people are finding time and money to spend their two weeks of summer vacation abroad. And this applies not only to residents of the capital. Many destinations, especially on a charter basis, run through Sheremetyevo SVO Airport. Which airport of departure is not particularly taken into account when drawing up flight plans. The main task, from a commercial point of view, is to host all arriving flights and help travelers go further on the road, well, and make money on this, of course.
Terminal C
To solve these problems, it was decided to introduce a new terminal - Sheremetyevo SVO C. Which departure airport is needed, it was clear to everyone, but how to get to the new building and where is it located? Specifically, to resolve these issues, the airline complex management launched a free bus route from Terminal F to Terminal B and with an intermediate stop near Terminal C, not far from the former Sheremetyevo-1.
The average traveler immediately has doubts. Like, cheap charter flights entail the corresponding service. But what level of service in SVO C what? The airport here offers its customers the same standard quality as in the main terminals. For the convenience of passengers, 30 check-in counters and 36 passport control booths are involved. The safety of pre-flight procedures is ensured by an automatic three-level baggage inspection and sorting system. Large covered car parking for 1000 cars is connected to the new terminal by a pedestrian gallery. Since October 2008, an Orthodox chapel has been open to visitors on the third floor of the terminal.
Smart and safe
In 2011, the Sheremetyevo Airport Management Center SVO was opened. Anyone can really understand what airport they are now, by looking deeper into specially developed business processes for coordinating the work and management of servicing passengers, their luggage, as well as the aircraft that transport them. An integrated video surveillance system, viewing luggage and hand luggage contributes to the safety of passengers. There is also a separate cynological service and a round-the-clock profiling system for passengers located at the airport in order to identify potentially dangerous personalities by psychological testing. The 20/12 standard, first introduced at the SVO D terminal, deserves special attention. Which Russian airport is ready to deliver its baggage to its passengers 12 minutes after the airliner is parked at the telescopic ramp, and not later than 20 minutes for the last suitcase?